[ti:Meeting Highlights Economic 'Dynamism' of Southeast Asia]
[ar:Mario Ritter]
[al:Economics Report]
[by:www.chinavoa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
[00:05.14]The World Economic Forum is an independent organization.
[00:10.39]Its aim is to help businesses, governments
[00:14.02]and civil society find ways
[00:16.96]to work together to improve the world.
[00:20.09]This year, the twenty-first World Economic Forum
[00:24.23]on East Asia is taking place in Thailand.
[00:28.51]Organizers hope to bring attention
[00:31.81]to development in Southeast Asia.
[00:34.74]But the presence of Burmese opposition leader
[00:38.97]and parliament member Aung San Suu Kyi
[00:42.13]has made the event special.
[00:44.67]The Nobel Prize winner made her first foreign trip
[00:49.00]in over twenty years to the Thai capital, Bangkok.
[00:53.77]Burmese President Thein Sein cancelled his appearance
[00:58.85]at the meeting shortly
[01:00.49]after her travel plans were announced.
[01:03.49]Earlier, she also recorded a message for the forum.
[01:08.27]AUNG SAN SUU KYI: "I have the honor
[01:09.67]and privilege of addressing this gathering of thinkers
[01:12.46]and doers, movers and shakers,
[01:14.60]in positions to influence the direction
[01:16.98]that our world will take in the foreseeable future."
[01:19.87]Klaus Schwab started what came to be called
[01:23.66]the World Economic Forum and is its executive chairman.
[01:28.39]In opening comments, he praised
[01:31.04]the growing influence of Southeast Asian nations
[01:34.52]in the world economy and political issues.
[01:38.40]KLAUS SCHWAB: "When you look at the ASEAN region,
[01:41.00]you feel that here you have a region
[01:46.19]which is full of dynamism,
[01:49.22]which has economic growth of over five percent
[01:53.55]and which becomes more and more a crucial factor
[02:00.57]in the world economic and world political context."
[02:04.61]Several government leaders were in Bangkok for the meeting.
[02:09.04]They include Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
[02:14.91]Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung
[02:19.09]and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
[02:23.03]The forum is meant to discuss issues
[02:26.12]affecting the ten members of ASEAN,
[02:28.56]the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
[02:32.14]In a speech, the Thai prime minister noted threats
[02:36.72]like the debt crisis in Europe and climate change.
[02:40.90]But she also pointed to technological progress,
[02:45.43]democratic reforms
[02:47.02]and new centers of economic growth as signs of hope.
[02:52.10]ASEAN nations are becoming increasingly important
[02:56.88]in the world economy.
[02:59.16]As a group, their economic activity
[03:02.16]is nearing two trillion dollars.
[03:04.40]Southeast Asian economies are expected
[03:08.08]to grow more than five percent this year.
[03:11.32]That rate is higher than Europe or North America.
[03:16.04]World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy
[03:21.32]is also attending the meetings.
[03:23.87]He said Southeast Asia is doing better than other areas now.
[03:29.59]But he warned a slowing world economy could create problems.
[03:35.56]PASCAL LAMY: "I would expect, given what's happening
[03:38.10]in other parts of the world economy,
[03:40.74](for) this region to be more affected
[03:43.68]in two, three years to come than it has been so far."
[03:46.57]And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report.
[03:50.85]I'm Mario Ritter.